The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to extend renter protections past this December’s deadline, but tenants are concerned the extension will be too short.
Renter protections have been in place in Los Angeles County since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Wednesday’s vote extended the deadline for those protections in the city of Los Angeles until February 2023.
But many tenants who attended the city council meeting felt they needed more time.
“The pandemic, it has been so hard for me and my daughter,” renter Heidi Gonzalez said. “I am here to urge you not to lift the protections because it has been so long and the shelters are out of capacity. There’s no help.”
Tenants are pointing toward a surge in COVID-19 cases heading into the winter months and the current housing crisis as reasons to extend protections.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who leaves office at the end of the week, said the city can handle the change.
“The circumstances and conditions that existed in 2020 and 2021 … have adjusted to a level currently manageable by the regular constituted branches and departments of the city and government,” Garcetti said.
Newley elected Mayor Karen Bass, who made housing and homelessness a priority during her campaign, will take over the office Monday.
